Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Psalm of Asaph
Asking God for Justice
2 “How long will you judge partially
by showing favor on the wicked?[c]
3 “Defend the poor and the fatherless.
Vindicate the afflicted and the poor.
4 Rescue the poor and the needy,
delivering them from the power of the wicked.
5 They neither know nor understand;
they walk about in the dark
while all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “Indeed I said, ‘You are gods,
and all of you are sons of the Most High.
7 However, as all human beings do, you will die,
and like other rulers, you will fall.’
8 Arise, God, to judge the earth,
for all nations belong to you.
A Warning to Judah
4 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Judah
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they[a] rejected the Law of the Lord
and did not keep his statutes.
Their own lies made them wander off,
following along the same path their ancestors walked.
5 So I will send down fire upon Judah,
and it will devour the fortified citadels of Jerusalem.”
A Warning to Israel
6 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Israel
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they sold the righteous for money,
and the poor for sandals,
7 moving quickly[b] to rub the face[c] of the needy in the dirt.
Corrupting[d] the ways of the humble,
a man and his father go to the same woman,
deliberately defiling my holy name.
8 They lay down beside every altar,
on garments pledged as collateral,[e]
drinking wine paid for through fines
imposed by the temple of their gods.
9 Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites in front of them,
though their height seemed like a cedar,[f]
though their strength seemed like an oak,
but whose fruit I destroyed from above
and the roots from beneath.
10 Furthermore, I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
leading you in the wilderness for 40 years,
to take possession of the land of the Amorites.
11 I also raised up your sons to be prophets,
and from your young men I raised up Nazirites.[g]
Is this not true, people of Israel?”
declares the Lord.
9 “Joseph’s brothers[a] became jealous of him and sold Joseph as a slave[b] in Egypt. However, God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler of Egypt and of his whole household.
11 “But a famine spread throughout Egypt and Canaan, and with it great suffering, and our ancestors couldn’t find any food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors on their first trip. 13 On their second trip, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph introduced his family[c] to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him in Egypt[d]—75 persons in all. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt. Then he and our ancestors died. 16 They were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought at a high price[e] from Hamor’s descendants in Shechem.
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